As some of you know I kept away from politics after I got ‘Obama‘ re-elected in 2012.
Two main reasons, nobody else inspired I & I was preoccupied with my books. I thought about campaigning for ‘Hillary’ BUT my heart was not in it. And I can’t do anything unless my heart is in it.
In 2012, WE [i.e., my then 12-year old 2nd daughter & I] campaigned for Andrew, for NH Senate, as part of the overall Democratic push. Andrew won. We were glad.
Well, as Andrew pointed out last night, he hadn’t seen much of me since then. True.
Well, I am BACK. I am going to get involved. THIS was why I finally became CITIZEN after 38-years of THINKING about it. SMILE.
I DID NOT take any pictures of the crowd for PRIVACY reasons.
I lucked out (as is my wont). I was in ‘Laconia‘, this afternoon, at the same time he was. And I there are a FEW people in ‘the party’ who know me. They arranged for me to talk with him. He was heading back to his bus. I walked with him (in a light rain shower).
He assured me, right up front, that he will NOT run against Biden.
That was PARAMOUNT. I will NOT support a Third-Party candidate or anyone who plans to run against Biden.
We CANNOT — WE CANNOT — afford to have the vote SPLIT. We need every single vote.
Once that was out of the way, we had a good, productive — albeit short — chat.
He is impressive. Very personable. Very much a PEOPLE PERSON. He connects well.
Talks well. Has presence.
And he is YOUNG. He is FIT. Wow.
I can — AND WILL — support him. IF he becomes the CANDIDATE I will campaign for him, tirelessly (& with my pocketbook) like I did for ‘Obama‘ in 2008 (Primary & Election) & 2012.
With two of my teammates. The guy in the hat, with a full beard, was my seat-mate. We were the BACK ROW.
It was a BLAST. So glad I did it. We had so much fun.
Our boat, with 16 paddlers, 1 steerer & 1 drummer took part in 3 races. We WON ALL THREE! That was pretty amazing given that this was an ad hoc, scratch team. We had never practiced. together.
We had 4 Jamaicans on our team. One was with me on the back row. We had fun.
I heard about this EXCITING event — right up my alley — last year, BUT it was too late to get a spot on a boat.
Not so, this year. Furthermore, THE ORGANIZER, ‘Pat Anderson‘, is a senior member of the ‘Laconia Rotary Club‘ — my club. So, it was EASY. I was on her boat.
I heard about this EXCITING event — right up my alley — last year, BUT it was too late to get a spot on a boat.
Not so, this year. Furthermore, THE ORGANIZER, ‘Pat Anderson‘, is a senior member of the ‘Laconia Rotary Club‘ — my club. So, it was EASY. I am on her boat.
This should be fun. I am excited. Yes, I plan to take a few pictures.
Maybe some of you could try & attend. Hope to see you there.
Click image for YouTube video or use YouTube embed below.
You have seen some of my photos from this Festival here, here & here. I took over 120 photos. Too much to post individually. So, I made a YouTube video of them as a photo montage.
So that is what this video is about: ‘Laconia Multicultural Festival’, ‘Laconia’, New Hampshire on Sept. 9, 2023. A video montage (with canned YouTube music) of 102 photos I took with my Google Pixel 7 Pro. Alas I was only there for just SOME of the performances. Enjoy.
The new commanding Colonel-at-Arms doing a good job holding one of the walls up.
I missed a few weeks (e.g., last week because of ‘Tall Ships), so this was my first meeting under the new, dynamic leadership of Paula P. & Jason P. It was a good, fun, productive meeting with 17 members (but no guests or visitors) in attendance. Paula provided sandwiches, chips & drinks (from Hannaford) for those that wished to partake & most did. It was good.
There was no program scheduled for the meeting. It was going to be a ‘Club Meeting’ & it truly was. We had received three Thank You notes & they were read out. That was much appreciated.
We discussed a wide range of pertinent matters such as: forthcoming programs (ably led by our new member, Gail), membership, club Website, club Facebook page (& advertising on it), membership status, membership drives, Band Stand & Dragon Boats. As expected we ran out of time & barely managed to squeeze in the all-important raffle. Alas, to his intense chagrin, The Chief did not have the winning ticket (most likely because his usual partner in these shenanigan’s was off to the races (no doubt making out like a bandit)). Given the late hour, some attendees had already left ahead of the raffle. The raffle was supposedly won, in absentia, by John P — but the Colonel-in-Arms held on to the winnings (which he probably will invest for the week in a 5% U.S. Treasury (so that John will get even more).
That was it, as far as I could remember. Good gathering. Great spirit.
The 4th of July is NOT on the 2nd of July. That is pretty simple & obvious.
The Declaration of Independence took place on the 4th of July. That is why the 4th of July is called Independence Day. That is why the 4th of July is a Federal & State HOLIDAY.
Yes, the ‘Lee Resolution‘ was passed on July 2. But, July 2 is NOT Independence Day. July 2 is NOT a holiday.
I would even say that this is UNPATRIOTIC. Not marking July 4. It is like not acknowledging Christmas. There are those that are offended when people don’t use ‘Christmas’ in greetings. This is similar — if NOT worse.
I can tolerate fireworks being on July 3 (as it is in Alton). But, NOT the parade.
I can understand IF July 4 was NOT a holiday. But, it is.
I was asked to walk in this parade. Then I saw the date! I thought it was a TYPO. I checked. I was not happy. I am NOT going to walk in a July 2 parade. I am NOT (totally) stupid (just partly). I have been asked to walk in another — & that is ON the 4th. Yes, I plan to take part in that parade.
This was our first meeting after what had proved to be our BUMPER ‘Bike Week Raffle’. It was well attended (i.e., 18 members) & everyone was in high spirits (though we (alas) lacked any bubbly to toast our success). I won’t divulge exactly how much we made, though it is said to be the ALL TIME RECORD & we sold over 4,000 tickets. (You can do the math.)
There was an announcement about the ‘Rod Dyer‘ recognition event, in ‘Laconia’, next week. We were also informed, to everyone’s delight, that our indefatigable treasurer had worked behind the scenes to ensure that 94-year old Navy vet, who came & spoke to us in March, ‘Norm Sanborn‘, was awarded an honorary High School diploma — which he did not get because he was too busy serving the country during WW II. That was well received.
The winner of this week’s raffle (for the 2nd time this year (if I am NOT mistaken)) just happened to be Rod Dyer, Esq. Though he picked TWO cards from the pack he, alas, was not able to locate the ACE. (The Chief has probably appropriated the Ace already for his next win (most likely next week).)
Today’s eagerly anticipated program was “The Old Man: His Life Legacy” by ‘Prof. Inez McDermott‘. The ‘Old Man’ in this case being our ex-Man of the Mountain as opposed to our ‘Chief’ (who did attend). She is the curator of the “An Enduring Presence: The Old Man of the Mountain” exhibit at the ‘Museum of White Mountains‘ in ‘Plymouth’. He was very informative & she regaled us with a fascinating collection of old pictures & tales about the ‘Profile Hotel’ that used to be there. Excellent.
Just for the record we did NOT receive any strawberry shortcakes from ‘THE BAKERY’. Maybe next week.
Here are two pictures of LAST YEAR’s (i.e., 2022) raffle winner visiting our booth last Saturday.
People complain that for the amount of pictures I take & post, I post a very few of myself. That is true. I am not a good subject to take pictures of + I don’t want to ruin people’s appetite. But, just for the record that I am still kind of up & about — here are some from TODAY. Top one is at ‘Ft. McClary‘, Maine — one of our favorite ‘holiday’ destinations.
Wearing the tattered shirt I got at a discount at ‘Laconia Bike Week‘ yesterday. It was the only one I could afford & that was after I pleaded poverty & haggled with the lady. (Yes, I gave her some chocolates too.) One of these days WITH LUCK I might be able to buy a proper shirt with SLEEVES. Wow. I wouldn’t know what to do with it.
